St. Augustine

I am creating a piece of St. Augustine for a good friend of mine who is getting married this summer. Here are a couple sketches of the piece. The overall arch is inspired by the Christian quarter in Hippo where St. Augustine was bishop as well as arches like the arch of Constantine. Much of the design work and narrative scenes were inspired by ancient Roman relief sculptures and St. Augustine’s tomb in Pavia.

Similar to the St. Cecilia piece I recently completed, I would use pen and ink, gilding, and watercolor. Here’s an example of the last piece to get a comparison…

Hi Patrick- What a great start! I really like all of the little details- they seem very well thought out. The only suggestion I can think of is to possibly make St. Augustine a little larger. He’s a bit dwarfed by that grand arch. I’m looking forward to seeing it finished!

I agree with Adalee, I would try and fill the arch more vertically. I was going to add that the folds in the vestments look too regular, but I see from your St. Cecila image that this is part of the style you are going for and I think it works.

I like where this is going Patrick. 🙂 Love the pictograph storyboard above the arch and the angels. Critiques: I agree that St. Augustine needs to fill the arch more. Also, the blank blocks under the columns need something. Maybe more pictographs, but that might be too busy. Maybe just some ivy or other organic image to soften the rigid architecture a bit… such as a repetition of the palm trees?

This is a beautiful design, I agree with the above suggestions. Your St. Cecilia has great color, love the dark sky and gold stars. Looking forward to your color choices here. I appreciate that you are designing your figures in a certain style, though I could see improvement being made with your faces. I am imagining something more expressive, more like an illuminated manuscript.

Thanks for your critique Bernadette. I agree that there is something about the faces that needs attention. I have been mostly influenced by Romanesque sculpture however I’ll definitely take a closer look at the faces in illuminated manuscripts. Are there any particular manuscripts you would recommend that have expressive faces?

Adalee Hude

Daniel Mitsui

George Tautkus

Sam Estrada

Tomas de Zarate

Braelyn Snow

Member

Braelyn Snow is an illustrator and fine artist living in Savannah, GA. She recently completed her MFA at Savannah College of Art and Design.
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Braelyn grew up in central Ohio on a small, seven-generation family farm. Her upbringing taught her to see beauty in quiet moments, in the subtlety of textures, and to appreciate a place for its memories.
"My art is fueled by a passion to seek and cultivate beauty, truth, and goodness. I believe art and design have the enormous capacity to shape the world, a thought which leads my research and practice."